Arts Center’s Visionary Leader Will Oversee Grant Funding For Region
Robin Rosenberg, president and director of the Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center, has been appointed to the Governor’s Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council.
She succeeds Dr. Cliff Wood, former president of Rockland Community College.
The Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council is a strategic economic advisory board representing the seven counties bordering New York City and the northeast markets.
As part of Round VIII of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Council initiative, the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council (MHREDC) was awarded $87.1 million for 122 projects that build on the region’s assets to invest in the future.
In 2017, Rosenberg helped secure $38,000 in EDC funds to convert the Garner Arts Center’s part-time program director to full time to expand cultural programming, stimulate revitalization and tourism, and engage under-served populations.
The Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center is a nonprofit arts center located in a 19th-century former textile mill in Garnerville. Rosenberg is credited with transforming under-utilized second-floor manufacturing space into artist studio spaces. The germ of this idea transformed the center into a thriving arts community, and a stellar example of preservation of 19th-century industrial architecture.
The Garnerville Arts and Industrial Center, recently rebranded as Garner Historic District, is ready for its next act. For years, the 27-building, Civil War-era landmark factory complex, with about 365,000-square-feet of space, has been a haven for artists and artisans. Now that the Village of West Haverstraw has rezoned the 14-acre site from light industrial to mixed use, the complex is attracting a new ilk of tenants that are likely to make the center a destination for foodies, hipsters, and tourists.
“I could see this Dickensian “village” as a respite from the world, a place where people could come to enjoy arts and culture,” said Robin Rosenberg, president and director of Garner Historic District. The center has 110 tenants, with 80% occupancy.
Before joining Garnerville, Rosenberg, an attorney, practiced environmental, land use and general commercial litigation with the Manhattan law firm Sive, Paget & Riesel, PC, where she was a partner. Rosenberg also served as a commercial mediator for the United States Districts Courts.
Rosenberg has organized nearly a dozen annual arts festivals at the center, attracting thousands of visitors and tourists.
She also serves as Vice Chair of the United Way of Rockland County, is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of Rockland and was a director and past president of the Greater Haverstraw Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Arts Advisory Board of RCC and is a former member of the advisory board of SCORE.
Rosenberg has received numerous arts, civic, and business awards. The Town of Haverstraw has recognized Rosenberg for outstanding work in promoting the Villages of Haverstraw and West Haverstraw.
“Her voice and her vote will be of immeasurable value to the county, the region and the mission of the council,” said Al Samuels, RBA President/CEO.